Paul McCartney's son James has told the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17547939) that he is interested in teaming up with the sons of his father's former bandmates to form The Beatles: The Next Generation. "I don't think it's something that Zak [Starkey] wants to do," says McCartney. "Maybe Jason [Starkey] would want to do it. I'd be up for it. Sean [Lennon] seemed to be into it, Dhani [Harrison] seemed to be into it. I'd be happy to do it."

McCartney, 34, is furthering his solo career by performing soon at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, the old stomping grounds of his father's band. The rocker says he chose to play there because he wants to "just to embrace the Beatles legacy rather than running away from it."

McCartney has collaborated with his father in the past. Paul served as producer on his son's two EPs, and the younger McCartney played guitar on the elder's albums Flaming Pie and Driving Rain.

He was on TV in England yesterday - I've rarely seen such a miserable character. He could barely do more than grunt every time he was asked a question. Amazing that his Dad hasn't tried to teach him how to behave in front of the cameras - it was painful to watch.

no prob, mr c...i should've thought through and been more clear: for the record..it would be the stupidest idea in the world for them to call themselves anything even slightly resembling 'the beatles'

now, if, as i once mused, they got together...wrote some songs...laid down some tracks...put it out as quietly as possible... with no real mention of who they were...go out of thier way to not to call attention to themselves...see how the music, on its own merits, is understood/recieved/reviewed/accepted or not accepted...it'd be interesting to see and hear what would come of such a thing.

think, chris, of richard bachman...remember, uncle stevie had no intention of letting anyone know it was him...only, after several years (and many accusations) did he fess up and kill off poor dickie...until that moment, though, the books lived and died on their merits...

and that, i think, is how it should be if the Jr.s decided to give it a go in order not to impugn their own artistic integrity, never mind their fathers

if at all serious, they should, at every moment, stay as far away from being the beatles, the beatles: the next generation, or anything even remotely linkable to the beatles or using the fact they are the beatles sons as humanly possible...

as i stated, seperately, they are a talented bunch...if other artists can form quasi-groups and have side projects, why shouldn't they...

without such efforts...we would never have had interesting moments like 'the hindu love gods', 'black country communion' or 'the travelling wilburys'

gkmacca wrote:He was on TV in England yesterday - I've rarely seen such a miserable character. He could barely do more than grunt every time he was asked a question. Amazing that his Dad hasn't tried to teach him how to behave in front of the cameras - it was painful to watch.

James DOES have a nice singing voice. No where near his father's but then does he really want to sound like his father? He plays good guitar, that is evident. Now the question will arise, who will be singing lead? What kind of songs will they sing? But then as mentioned, his personality is rather dull. He very rarely smiles. He needs to get over stage fright.

If this band is going to be successful doing whatever they do, he is going to have to sound more intelligent than he has been in interviews. As to the other sons . . . . I don't know. I have only heard Sean sing once and I didn't like it. I heard him in a band ONCE and it was a female lead singer and it was quasi punk. Never heard Dhani sing. I'm losing the track here.

Give it a shot. If they fail they fail. If they succeed they succeed. But hopefully if they succeed they do it on their own merit.

It would be a gimmick, but they have the pedigree and are actual musicians who would do genuine performances. Expectations would be very high. I think it would be even more difficult for them to become a Beatles cover band, because there are already many excellent cover bands who have been performing for years. Also, if they performed Beatles songs, they would be going head to head with Paul and Ringo. They could possibly cover some of George or John's solo work.

I suspect James probably was suggesting it might be interesting to see what would come of the four (or five?) of them trying their hands at making new music together. I'm not sure doing Beatles cover songs makes much sense. I must say I have thought about this very thing before, but it is risky.